Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth about America's 100 Top Schools

by Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Book Overview

An intellectual road map to help parents and students make their way through deciding where they can get the best liberal arts education. "It is one of those rare books that cut through the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802845371
• ISBN13: 9780802845375
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Outspoken and biased, but specific and informative.

I don't necessarily agree with all of the authors' prejudices. However, I do appreciate their openness in displaying those prejudices, so that I can take them into account as I read their assessments of the colleges they have chosen to review.While it's clear that the authors have carefully selected professors and students who share their vocal conservatism to interview, the discussions are refreshingly frank and do provide useful insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the institutions reviewed.I would like to see a similarly candid review of these campuses, written with a similar commitment to the intellectual life and academic excellence but with a somewhat more modern viewpoint.If other readers know of such a book, I would appreciate it if they could include its name and author in a review of this book. Thanks in advance.The Seattle public library system has a copy of this book now.

Refreshing!

If you're a parent looking for an in-depth guide to America's top colleges and universities, buy this guide. Hands down, the most in-depth guide available. Having worked at two top 20 universities in the past 15 years, I've talked to hundreds of parents and am increasingly amazed at how ill-informed they are about the higher education market. Upon visiting campus bookstores, they focus more on reviewing the quality of T-shirts than reviewing the quality of course textbooks. What most parents don't realize is how dramatically American higher education has changed since their college days. And,in most cases, for the worse. Considering the spiraling costs of higher education, this is tragic.(I don't expect students to be so "educated" about such decisions. Many are as concerned about the social life as they are about the academic rigor. In most cases, however, parents are footing the bill and have SOME influence in the process).Most guides provide information regurgitated by institutional public affairs offices. Or some guides just mirror superficial rankings. Fine. But with most colleges having their own web sites, who needs those guides? This guide, however, gives a good CURRENT 4-5 page snapshot of the profiled institution ( top 100 colleges and universities - with their web sites for that standard PR fluff). While it discusses student life and singles out excellent professors,its real value is in examining the various curricula and the institutional culture that forms them. Most parents have no idea that very few schools offer a core curriculum( in other words, a common body of knowledge that ALL graduates of that insitution should be familiar with upon graduation; it has been watered down and replaced over the years with faddish "distribution requirements."). This guide goes past the glossy brochures, past the high-profile sports programs, past the news-catching federally-funded massive research programs and looks at what the typical student will face in the classroom.I attended two schools that are considered prestigious institutions, but would trade my education tomorrow for the traditional core curriculum still taught at lesser-known but academically-superior schools like Hillsdale College (independent) , Thomas Aquinas (Catholic) or St. John's (independent). These schools offer an EXCELLENT liberal arts foundation that ALL educated people should ( and used to ) have. For graduate study,it's a whole different ball game: choose another guide for that. That selection is MUCH easier.This guide is definitely NOT for a parent or student who doesn't understand ( or care to understand) the idealogical shift that post modernism has inflicted on the academy. It is for those who want to understand how far it has creeped into America's top schools.

Essential!

I first heard of this book from a professor on a radio show who has just written an excellent book called "The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America's Campuses." The professor said that his book is very useful to inform parents about what is happening on campuses but he said that this guide was invaluable for parents who care about choosing the perfect college for their child. My wife and I thought this guide was too thick for one of us to read so we divided it up into schools. 50 schools each. The essays were so much informative, well-written, and fun to read that we both read pretty much everything. It points out the truth about every school in the book, the good parts and the bad. The authors clearly do not like what certain schools have become (like Yale!) but they offer sound advice to parents. This guide is far superior to the National Review guide in that it doesn't give you a menu of mostly unknown small liberal arts schools but instead offers insight into all major universities and colleges. One of my daughters will be at college in 2 years and we had no idea how to set about choosing a college. We bought the Fiske guide but found it bland. This book has already helped us identify some great schools and informed us exactly what we should be looking for (both to identify the good and the bad). I highly recommend it.

Excellent Book! Insightful, analytic and honest information

This is an outstanding resource for prospective students, and especially for parents of prospective students that want honest information and direct analysis, NOT marketing pablum from college admissions and P.R. departments.I rate this book of one of the three most useful we have read, in getting educated about choosing colleges. Unlike many resources, this information goes to the heart of what is important, if you care about the quality of education your children will receive.It also is refreshing to see honest and insightful analysis exposing the problems and perils of the political correctness movement in higher education; a book that speaks frankly about the good and the bad in the colleges it reviews.My only suggestion: Expand your review to include more colleges! Perhaps edition two can include an update of the currently included colleges, and an additional 100 or so schools not yet reviewed.In summary, I consider this resource an essential tool that both students and parents should read, and refer back to, during their campus visits and tours...and certainly during the time preparing to make this important choice.